Coevolution and coadaptation
of Social systems and Ecosystems
鄭先祐 (Ayo)
教授
國立臺南大學 (環境與生態學院)
生態科學與技術學系
(環境生態碩士班 + 生態旅遊碩士班)
Coevolution and coadaptation of Social
systems and Ecosystems
• 基本學理與名詞
• Coadaptation of people and mosquitoes
• From traditional to modern agriculture
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基本學理與名詞
• Social system and Ecosystem : Structure and function (services)
• Self-organization : system + emerging properties
• 時間與空間的變動 (succession + biogeography)
• Coevolution (changing together)
• Coadaptation (fitting together)
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Population
regulation
by food
supply
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The sigmoid curve for
population growth and
regulation
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Human use of renewable resources and
return to the ecosystem as waste
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Energy flow in ecosystems
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Energy flow from one step of a food chain to
another
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Energy flow and materials cycle
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Energy input-output of planet Earth
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Ecosystem
services as
material cycling in
the ecosystem
生產者
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The relation between ecosystem services and
intensity of use
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Disappearance of an ecosystem service due
to overexploitation
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The complex system cycle
成長
平衡
重組
崩潰
Ecosystems and social systems change in two ways:
1. Progressive change due to internal self-organizing assembly processes.
(biological community assembly and cultural evolution)
2. Sudden change from one stability domain to another because of external
disturbance (to switch).
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coadaptation
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Coadaptation of people and mosquitoes (01)
Approximately 100 years ago, the French moved large numbers of people in
colonial Vietnam from the lowlands to the mountains. They wanted more
people in the mountains to cut forests,.
Unfortunately, many lowland people died of malaria when they were forced to
live in the mountains.
This was surprising, because malaria had not been a serious problem in
Vietnam.
coadaptation
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Coadaptation of people and mosquitoes (02)
The species of mosquito that breed in the vast rice fields of the lowlands do
not transmit malaria.
Although the mountains have malaria-transmitting mosquito species, the
disease was never a serious problem for the mountain people, who live there
for many generations.
Why did lowland people get malaria when mountain people did not?
coadaptation
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Traditional house design of mountain and
lowland in Vietnam
coadaptation
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From traditional to modern agriculture
Traditional agriculture
Most people were small-scale subsistence farmers; most of
the agricultural production was for home consumption.
Most families had a variety of farm animals and cultivated
many different crops. (polyculture)
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Modern agriculture
Agriculture changed in Europe when the Industrial Revolution made
it possible to use machines instead of human and animal labour for
work.
Farm sized increased dramatically because mechanized
agriculture is more efficient on a larger scale (economy of scale).
From polyculture to monoculture.
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慣行農業
市場經濟
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Modern agricultural ecosystem
生態體系
社會體系
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問題與討論
Ayo NUTN website:
http://myweb.nutn.edu.tw/~hycheng/
Marten. G. G. 2001. Human Ecology: Basic concepts for sustainable
development. Earthscan pub. Ltd.